Options Include Like, Comment, Share, Bookmark and Agonize
by dfcfanfics
Summary: What's a young man to do when he admires his friends' romantic relationship but the one of his own that he craves seems hopeless? If he's Adrien Agreste, he's the kind of guy who posts about it online. Marinette reads his thoughts on Alya and Nino, and her mind is spinning... One-shot, Drabblish, based on Adrien's 12/7 Instagram post.


MiraculElse #16: Like, Comment, Share, Bookmark, or Agonize

by DFC

(Timeline: A couple of hours after Adrien's 12/7/2019 Instagram post.)

* * *

"So, have you seen it? I didn't see you respond to it yet-" said Alya's phone voice, ringing in Marinette's ears.

"Sixteen times. I mean, I've looked at it sixteen times. I haven't responded to it," Marinette replied. "I've _responded_ to it, like, in my _head_, but I haven't typed anything back at him. Or at least I haven't hit 'Send' yet."

For the seventeenth time, Marinette stared at her monitor, viewing Adrien's Instagram post from a few hours ago:

* * *

**adrienagrestebrand**

**I *was* going to take this picture to tease them for playing Super Penguino 3D, but... honestly, I wish I had what these two have. Happy to see my best bud so happy.**

**3 hours ago**

* * *

The picture above the comment was of Alya and Nino sitting together on a bench, Alya's gaze focused on the phone in her hands, Nino's arm around her, looking utterly comfortable and relaxed as a couple.

"I never saw him take the picture," Alya noted. "Not that it was a big deal, of course... He and Nino take pictures of each other all the time, even if I still can't get Nino to make an account and post them. But what Adrien wrote was so sweet."

"It was... sweet, yes. I _know_ how happy he is for you two. But it was so _sad!_" exclaimed Marinette, her eyes wide. "Don't you think so? He just sounded so... _lonely_. Like he watched you curled up and, all at once, he saw this huge, gaping void in his own life and he couldn't help but cry out. I read that and I wanted to run over there and cuddle him!"

"I bet you did," grinned Alya.

"I left that one wide open, didn't I?" blushed Marinette. "Not that you're wrong. But... oh, you know what I mean, right? I know how alone he felt before he came to our school... how much he values us as friends. But for him to talk like that? ...Alya, he's got the _ache_. Just like I do."

"That I-love-someone-and-they-don't-love-me-back ache?" Alya confirmed. "Oh, yeah, he's feeling it. And that's good news for you, right?"

"How can that be _good?"_ Marinette replied, her thought process stopping short. "He's hurting."

"You told me that he mentioned 'the girl that he loves,' right? And we know that he was getting snuggly with Kagami after that. Yet, now he's online moaning that Nino and I have something that he _doesn't_. What does that tell you?" asked Alya.

"That he's _hurting,_" insisted Marinette.

"That he's _not_ hot-and-heavy with some other girl. Not with Kagami, and not with whoever he meant that day in the car. That door's still open. But it might not be for long... that poor boy."

* * *

"That poor boy?" puzzled Marinette, feeling confused. "What are you saying, that he's in trouble because now I know that he's still single and feeling lonely?"

"No," clarified Alya. "Because a certain handsome model just _announced on Instagram_ that he's single and lonely. Half the girls in Paris will be lining up to throw themselves at him. It'll be like the groupies chasing him after the fragrance ad came out... though this time maybe you should put some regular pants on."

"I still can't believe that day happened the way that it did," Marinette grumbled.

"Or... well, you could try the pajamas again. He seemed kind of into it the first time," Alya laughed.

_"Stop!"_ moaned Marinette. "All right, I get what you're saying. He _is _single. So what does that really change, though?" Her voice grew a little distant. "He's right on the brink of being with Kagami, even if he's not quite there yet. And he made it clear that he doesn't think of _me_ that way."

"And I will say for the thousandth time," argued Alya, "that I have _watched _the way he looks at you, how he responds to you. Maybe you are a friend to him right now. But you haven't been _just_ his friend for a very long time. You could turn this around."

"And I know what you're going to say next," continued Marinette, from force of habit.

"Of course you do. I'm going to tell you that _he doesn't know_ that you love him like that. And he won't know and he can't know until you tell him."

"You make it sound like it's..." Marinette trailed off.

"...Easy?"

"...Possible," she corrected Alya.

* * *

Alya sighed. "Fine. I'm not going to push it too hard today... Even though this _might well_ be your last chance before someone does latch onto him, and he responds. Kagami might see that post and realize that she needs to try harder. Some other girl might run at him and turn his head and surprise all of us. Or _you _could surprise the heck out of all of us and make your move, for real."

"I'd be the most surprised of all," agreed Marinette. "You know that I _want_ to. Part of me does, anyway. And I wasn't lying earlier, either... I read what he wrote and it just yanked my heart down to my feet. I can't help it. If he's in pain... no matter why... I'll always want to try and help him fix it."

"And...?" Alya breathed, anticipation in her voice.

"_And_ I don't know that throwing myself at him would fix it. It might make it worse," countered Marinette, "if someone that he's not in love with throws feelings in his face and now he has to deal with _that_. I have to think about this. Maybe a good friend really _is_ all he needs from me."

"Or maybe you're who he's been needing all along to heal that ache. His _and_ yours_. _I'm just saying," said Alya. "Maybe it won't work if you do try. It can't if you don't."

"I will _think about it_, I swear. As if I've done anything else all afternoon," sighed Marinette.

"All right. My mom's calling me, I've got to go... call me later?" Alya asked her.

"Sure. I'll talk to you then."

* * *

As the call clicked off, Marinette flopped back into her chair for a minute, closing her eyes. _She's not wrong about any of that... but neither am I,_ she thought.

_So what do I do next?_

She clicked Comment on Adrien's Instagram post... then canceled her comment.

_No. If I'm going to make a fool of myself, and I'm still not sure that I am ready to try... I don't want to do it on the Internet in front of the whole world! Some humiliations are best accomplished in private. _

For the eighteenth time, she read Adrien's inner thoughts on Nino's romance. _But _he's_ not afraid to be honest like that,_ she smiled. _He never is._

_Why can't I be brave like that?_

Quickly, Marinette climbed up to her bed and stretched out. Some things in life were best considered while horizontal, lying on comfortable pillows, and with covers nearby that one could hide under if the situation called for it.

"I can't do this," Marinette told herself.

_I ought to do this,_ she thought. _I ought to reach out to him._

"This is crazy," she said to no one in particular.

_If I don't, I'm going to lie here all night wondering what would've happened if I did, _her brain argued. _And he's hurting. And maybe I can do something about that._

"Whatever something is," she grumbled. "I've tried so many somethings and none of them have worked. So what can I do now that'd be any different?"

_You don't have to go the whole distance right now, _a part of her reasoned._ You don't have to ask him to marry you. __But you could be a little bit honest and show him a little more of the real you... and see how that works._

"..."

_Run out of counter-arguments?_ her brain asked.

"For now," she whispered.

Her eyes moved back down to her phone, where her finger was calling up her contact list. As if in a dream, she saw herself select Adrien's name, then click MESSAGE.

_Now... TYPE._

* * *

~fin~


End file.
